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Discussion

spongebath/contact precaution question

I had a patient sometime back that had c. diff. My instructor asked me to give her a full spongebath, including washing the perineal region. When washing the anal portion where c. diff. stool primarily thrives, would it be warranted to use an n95 mask during this portion to avoid inhalation of the spores when dealing with this contact precaution? If not, is there a logical region to why we do not use this precaution?

This is probably a dumb question, but it's been bugging me for a while. My concern is that the spores will be inhaled and later swallowed into the GI track, but I may be splitting hairs. Thanks for any input:)

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    C.Diff is unlikely to cause you any issues if you are of normal immunity. In fact, you already have it in your colon. Everyone does.

    Most of the contact precautions are to keep it from being spread into other patient's rooms who may not be of normal immunity. So no, it would not really be necessary to don that kind of mask for that task.

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    C. diff is spread by contact, not by inhalation. You would have to put your hand to your mouth after contact to become infected. It isn't transmitted through the air.

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